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Report of the President of the Auxiliary What greater provision can we make for the future than encouraging our young people to assist others. Our Candystriper program is active all year. Last summer, 84 young people were involved, followed by 47 students during the winter months. They provided a total of 6,374 hours of assistance. This year, at the Annual Meeting, the Auxiliary was delighted to preâ€" sent an Auxiliary Memorial Bursary to Carolyn Seto. Carolyn has been a Candystriper since 1992, and has contributed 250 hours to the hospital. We are justifiably proud of our 675 volunâ€" teers who contributed 65,248 hours of service to our hospital. The Auxiliary is fortunate in being able to offer assistance in over forty difâ€" ferent service areas. Two of these services have been inauguratâ€" ed during the past year. On the Transitional Care Unit of our new nursing tower, a multiâ€"disâ€" ciplinary group of volunteers use their special gifts and talents to improve the quality of life for the patients. This is an ongoing need, and we welcome anyone desirous of joining this special group. We have also begun a "Doctors on Call" service. This service provides Emergency and the Nursing Units with a list of doctors available on the weekâ€" ends. _ Auxiliary to the Oakvilleâ€"Trafalgar Memorial Hospital have worked together in many ways to provide for tomorrow‘s vision. T his past year, the members of the While honouring our young people at the local level, we were delighted that two of our past presidents were honored with Provincial Life Membership at the Hospital Auxiliaries Association of Ontario‘s Convention in Toronto last November. Joyce Hongisto (who passed One step further to a healthier community The end result was the initiation of a Healthy Oakville Steering Committee who will continue to meet to develop strategies for making Oakville a "healthier" community. A healthy community is defined as one that is constantly creating and improving its physical and social environments and expanding those community resources which enable people to mutually support each other. In keeping with OTMH‘s commitment to health promotion, the hospital‘s Health Promotion Committee hosted two Healthy Community Workshops in the fall of 1993 and spring of 1994 involving over 50 individuals. akvilleâ€"Trafalgar Memorial Hospital (OTMH) recently became one of the first hospitals in Canada, and one of a few in North America, to take the lead in establishing a "healthy community." As well, OTMH became the first recipient of a grant from the Ontario Healthy Communities Coalition to help offset the costs of the workshop. Vice President Health promotion initiatives away in January) and Liz Denyar deserved their wellâ€"earned recognition for the many hours they have given to our organization. Our new mission statement says, in part, that we will "enhance the hospiâ€" tal environment". While providing services to our patients and staff is part of our misâ€" sion, another important aspect is fundraising. We are indebted to such industrious groups as Bingo, HELPP lottery, "TWIG" special events and our Gift Shop for being the major sources of our income. In late March, we opened our beautiful, much enlarged gift shop in the lobby. We are very grateful to the hospital for providâ€" ing this venue for us. It, along with the other sources, allows us to meet our current one milâ€" lion dollar commitâ€" ment to the hospital for Capital Equipment. The colour doppler and remote interventional xâ€"ray machine being purchased by the Auxiliary in this campaign are designated for Diagnostic Imaging. In addition, as part of our 1985 campaign, we have also purchased for the new Intensive Care Unit, part of the Kodak Ektascan Critical Care Unit. These machines will provide clearer, inâ€"depth images for the proâ€" fessional staff, while posing minimal hazards for Using the research, a facilitated planning retreat was held in September 1993 to identiâ€" ty key health issues, to set priorities, and to identify projects to be implemented. Two projects were chosen as the priorities for further investigation: 1. A Health Information Resource, to improve access to health information so that residents can make more informed decisions about their health and health care. Since February 1993, a Board subâ€"comâ€" mittee, with both hospital and community repâ€" resentatives, has been meeting to develop and implement short and longâ€"term plans for community health promotion for the hospital. The Committee‘s goal is to expand the service role of OTMH from one of a hospital to a community health resource. In order to identify needs, an external inventory of over 90 existing health promoâ€" tion services was prepared in addition to an internal inventory of health promotion proâ€" grams and services. At our Annual Meeting last month, we presented the hospiâ€" tal with a cheque for $130,000, bringing our total donation in this campaign to $480,000 (almost halfâ€"way to our goal!) "The surveyors stated that the Committee‘s progress to date was leading edge, and that they plan to use OTMH as a haalth promotion role model for other hospiâ€" tals," said Anna Hobbs, Chair of the Committee. A third proposal, a Wellness Centre, to provide environmental support for residents to improve their health through physical activity, and education with a particular emphasis on the prevention of cardiovascuâ€" lar disease, is currently at the proposal stage. Future plans also include the identification of additional strategies to accomplish our goal, and the building of appropriate partnerâ€" ships with the community. their families. Detailed proposals for each project were approved by the Board of Governors, and startâ€"up funding provided by the OTMH Charitable Corporation. In April, OTMH became the first hospital in Canada to have health promotion activities reviewed by the Canadian Council on Health Facilities Accreditation. the patients. This equipment is, as the Hospital‘s theme states, "Reaching today for tomorrow‘s vision". O.T.M.H. volunteers are to be congratulated for their vision, caring, and commitment. This is my second, and final report as presiâ€" dent of the Auxiliary. My congratulations go to every member of our Auxiliary, the best anyâ€" where. Patricia Ross Auxiliary President